23 Leila Slimani Quotes for You to Enjoy

Leila Slimani

French Writer

Born: Oct 3, 1981

Love Me Mother Myself People You

Related authors: Alfred de Musset Andre Maurois Francois de La Rochefoucauld Joseph Joubert Madame de Stael Simone de Beauvoir Stendhal Voltaire

That animal part of us, it's the most interesting part. It's everything that has to do with drives, with things we can't stop ourselves from doing, with all the spaces where we're unable to reason with ourselves. It has its dark side, but there's a luminous side, too, which is the fact that we're just another species of animal. Leila Slimani

Animal Dark Dark Side Too Side Everything Unable Ourselves Fact Drives Part Most Another Doing Just Stop Where Spaces Which Interesting Us Reason Species Luminous Things

Authors have a nationality; books do not. Leila Slimani

Books Authors Nationality

All fiction is based on truth - 'Madame Bovary' is based on a true story! Leila Slimani

Truth Madame True True Story Fiction Story Based

I am not afraid of being a pariah. Leila Slimani

Am Afraid Being

I remember that the first time I looked at my son, of course I felt love. But I think the first feeling was not love: it was fear. Someone is needing me. If something happens to him, what am I going to do? Maybe I won't survive if something happens to him? The fear was as big as the love. Leila Slimani

I, too, am interested in identity and Islam, which is what people expect of us. But one must not write what is expected. It's important for North African writers to show they have other things to say. Leila Slimani

A nanny is a woman who lives in an apartment, but the apartment is not her own. She raises children, teaches them how to walk, how to speak; she gives them food - but these children are not her children. So she is in a very ambiguous place. Leila Slimani

I remember, when I was a teenager, people telling me, 'You know, when you are a mother, you will never feel lonely. You will feel so much love, and you will be fulfilled by this love.' Then I became a mother. And I learnt that is absolutely wrong: you can feel very lonely with your children, even if you love them. Leila Slimani

Love Me You People Remember Mother Will Lonely Teenager Telling Absolutely Never Remember When Wrong Feel Know Became Learnt Very Children Them Then Much Fulfilled Your Even

I like anti-hero women. Negative female characters interest me. Leila Slimani

Me Women Negative Characters Like Female Female Characters Interest

Authorities in Rabat believe that if we create a Moroccan character, even in a work of fiction, we are responsible for the image of Moroccan women. Leila Slimani

Work Character Women Believe Responsible Authorities Fiction Create Even Image

You have to fight against all the things that will keep you out of writing, because life doesn't go with writing. You will always have something more important to do: you will have to take your children to school, you will have to cook something, you have to meet friends. But you have to fight if you want to write. Leila Slimani

Life You Fight Writing School Will Important Meet Out Something More Write Take Because Always Go Friends Children Want Against Cook Your Keep Things

When I was a little girl, my first link to the world was as a reader. Sometimes, I feel a nostalgia for those times, for all the emotions I felt as a child - discovering novels, discovering Dickens, Balzac, or Dostoevsky. I wanted to be like those men. Leila Slimani

In Morocco, there is an insistence on authority. Children are not encouraged to speak up in front of their parents. My parents were not like this. I was the kind of girl who could tell her father, 'No, what you are saying is totally untrue, and I don't agree with you.' Leila Slimani

I love cooking shows! I'm not a bad cook myself, but I must say that I admire the creativity of those young chefs. It makes me jealous... and hungry. Leila Slimani

Love Jealous Myself Me Cooking Creativity Young Say Those Hungry Bad Must Admire Chefs Makes Cook Shows

My two sisters and I had a very nice nanny at home in Morocco until I was 13. I remember my parents saying how she had insinuated herself into our family. They knew she would suffer when we broke away from her. Leila Slimani

A mother should never be blamed for working. Leila Slimani

Mother Blamed Never Should Working

I just don't believe that a woman is naturally closer to her child than a man. Not at all. Leila Slimani

Man Woman Believe Than Child Closer Just Naturally Her

People don't want to treat their nannies subserviently. They don't want to act like bosses. And so nobody quite knows how to behave, and everyone is slightly pretending that the mother and nanny are 'equal' - when that's not the case. And pretending you are equal can make things complicated, even dangerous. Leila Slimani

You People Treat Dangerous Complicated Mother Pretending Everyone Slightly Case Bosses Nobody Like Equal Nanny Make Knows How Behave Quite Want Act Even Things

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